Ep 30: Loyle Carner

Loud and Quiet Presents Midnight Chats. My guest this time on Midnight Chats is loyal Kana and he has a handful of great loves in his life that he likes to talk about. Number one is family. Anybody who's heard the rappers very personal debut album, Yesterday's Gone will know that, or perhaps you've been to one of his gigs where

All THANCTS for having me. Have you been Yeah, good, good, knackered, but but good busy.

We kind of caught you in like what must be a rare moment of sort of down, not downtime, but like in the sort of days that you must have in between basically playing every single festival.

Yeah, yeah, it's mad.

I mean the kind of in between days have become just as busy as my days on, kind of my days off of just other days on at the moment. But yeah, no, it's nice to have sometimes at least I'm home because I've been away for a lot. I was in Australia for a bit when I was in America and then went back to America. So it's nice at least to be busy then and come back to a base where my family's around and I can talk to them, you know, Yeah, relax with them, have a hug from them.

Yeah.

With that downtime, what kind of things you fill your time with? Is it catching up with people? Is it you know, you're still doing things like.

This and yeah, yeah, I mean it's a lot of I guess I've got this cooking school for kids of ADHD and so at the moment, that's not my main focus other than this. So I've got Actually, what I've been doing last couple of days has been running. Because I teach the classes, I've been running the same recipes over and over again. So last night I was cooking, making Portuguese custard tarts until like one am. So it's downtime, but it's not really. That's how I like it, though, Man,

With the cooking school. You ran the first program pretty much a year ago.

I did around around this time last year year.

How was the first How was the first experience?

Yeah, it's amazing, man.

I mean, so I grew up with ADHD myself, and you know, one thing I will never really had was anyone to talk to that was older who'd been through it not so much you know, made a success with themselves, but it just survived it and got to the point of being, you know, like a young adult. But yeah, I mean before the before the school happened, I was preaching it a lot because we were trying to build a bit of a buzz for it, and I was saying, you know, look, you know, ADHD is a beautiful thing.

It just needs the right thing to bring this beauty out.

And I wasn't sure if it was actually going to be the case, if you know, that was just my experience. But yeah, I think, honestly, I do think it was probably the best week of my life and something I was doing it kind of thinking I could just I could stop everything and just do this every day for the rest of my life because it was was beautiful, man.

I mean, some of the kids.

Were you know, were caught up in some real, real bad ship outside of school or inside the school, but all of them came came to the classes and we're just joy to be with and the joy to be around.

And yeah, it was it was special.

What kind of things did you make on that first?

We made chicken ramen, decent chicken rum, some salmonon cruite beef Wellington, some homemade pasta and pesta.

Actually a funny story about the pasta and the pesto.

So I'm allergic to nuts and there's one kid in the class who was allergic to nuts as well, and I was like, hey, manuals stick together, will make it like a nut free pesta would be boring, but it'll be all right. And so we made it and I kind of went around and someone had swapped the pestl of mortars around and I ended up dipping my finger another one and trying it, and they're guardian what outside the kitchen, waiting to interview me for the peace like

Right, oh fuck, yeah, ship, yeah, let's get back downstairs. I've got to go to this interview. The guy had gone, and then we just kept teaching the class.

Shoot. Yeah, because of the alleged reaction to the.

Acid, yeah yea yeah to the nuts, to the pine nuts.

Is that happened to you before?

Yeah, I mean it happening. Is hasn't happened since it's something rare? I don't really because I don't. I'm pretty good at not eating nuts. But yeah, it was just it was ridiculous.

One, it was awful, and you're like, I just want today to go smoothly, you know.

It was just like, yeah, this bands that happened, and man, to be fair, the only person who injured themselves like the cooking school was me. I had that between I chopped the top of my I think my index finger off.

Butther than that dangerous, it ran very smoothly. I let my lesson.

What are the young people like that you met through doing that? How did they kind of respond to it by the end, because because it lasts for a week and so what change did you see in them from basically getting together on a Monday or whatever it was and then cooking a feast?

Yeah for the family, Yeah, it was for you know, it was. It was amazing. They were amazing. There was something about it that they kind of.

Came in there a bit wary, but honestly, within you know, after the first day, they were also open. And I think that openness just continued to grow. But there was a kind of a playfulness that was there. But it wasn't disrespectful or troublesome. I mean it was it was they were becoming more and more curious, and I think that's what I think has grown as they as they've gone off, some of them have looked to go to

Yeah a bind, Yeah exactly exactly. So it was as much as the.

Food was the you know, the importance at first, it then became it was actually what it brought out that was more important because they still messaged me now and they all kind of chatted to me in a way that's, you know, like a friend, but also in a way where they're not embarrassed.

I think that's what they gained.

And was cooking the kind of like primary thing that helped you cope with having ADHD. That was that the biggest thing that you kind of discovered that helped you through.

That period massively. I think it was weird.

It was that and writing rhymes kind of however I was doing it if it was on beat or just a cappella or poems or whatever. But yeah, for food, it was just I don't know, there was There's so much going on when you're cooking, and you don't have time to worry about anything else, you know, so your brain can be full of all these other things. But as soon as you start cooking, your brain is only full of what's going on. So there's sign can fire here.

I've almost watched all of them.

But there's a Korean monk, this woman who claims that and I believe her, that cooking is the closest form of men, like the closest thing you can get to meditation in a busy life.

I don't have the time or the patience or the energy for meditation.

But I do understand what she means because it's this kind of pure feeling of just complete. I don't like mindfulness. I mean, you're not thinking about anything, but you're thinking about everything.

At the same time.

It's it's brilliant. I can't quite explain it, but it's always been very important to me.

What does a kitchen look like once you've been in there and done your thing, Because when I'm cooking, I seem to basically use every single utensity end whatever meal that I'm preparing. The washing up just looks horrendous.

Yeah, that's a fucking mess, that's what. That's what it's like. It's like a Tasmanian devil is hit. My kitchen are the same. Yeah, Yeah, that's exactly what I'm like always. But I think it's good like that, man. I mean, I've got a good deal going with my mom. You know that if I cook, she'll hook it up afterwards.

So we've got that. We've got like a little team going on.

But no, yeah, I mean I've learned I'm a bit better at cleaning as I go.

But no, I guess I think that's the fun of it. Though.

You know, if you're cooking and you're tidy, n that's not fun. I mean you want to just make a mess. That's that's part of the fund, is just being able to make a mess and be able to.

Justify it with some good food.

Is there anything that you haven't managed to perfect just yet? Because there are things like a roast dinner, for example, it can take forever to get it to the affection that you wanted.

My roast is actually right, my roast potatoes to say, or maybe the best in South South London. Okay, the best in the pot but maybe maybe the best in that southeast.

I would say, what's the key with a roast potato?

Is it like goose fat?

That's always do you know what? No?

I mean it is if you but my family and my mum and my little brother vegetarian loosely, and so I can't get away with goose fats. I've have to be a bit yeah, to get around intuitive of it, but.

But not what it really is.

I can let yours. It's not my secret. It's like a Jamie a secret. You part of boil the potatoes. You boil them up before you roast them over seed. But when they're when they're when they're cooked, when they're boiled in the pan, you put the lid on the lid on the pot and shake them until they get kind of like fluffy on the outside. And it's that fluffiness that gets the Christmas on the outside and on the inside they're still tender and sweets.

Yeah, exactly, tell me about it.

But yeah, what what kind of I really struggle with anything that requires like a precision your technique.

I'm kind of just better at just throwing things at a pan and something comes out of it.

Like baking is like I can't do right because it's just too precise. So that's something I'm trying to.

Get better at. Yeah, you won't, you won't, definitely. I was watching the other day.

I watched it last night actually late, just thinking how how is it possible to because these people don't even have anything that they're measuring with, and I was like, how is it possible to note to gauge a little bit of this, a little bit of a little bit of yeast?

It's not possible, man.

I'm quite looking forward to seeing the new series with no fielding on.

Actually yeah, yeah, I'm interested in Man, I'm going to miss marry Berry because she was my.

She was my rock.

But she's like Britain's rock.

She reminds me of my man.

Man, I do I love her, She's a true legend.

Yeah.

When you're out on tour, like, tour life is very different from home life in the sense that you're never really going to get the chance to get into the kitchen and prepare food for yourself. Do you ever get any decent grub when you're out on the road.

I try my best, man, Yes, it's it's a shame being on the road. Is really all I really get is fat. That's kind of what happens when I go away. Kind of it's the same vicious cycle. Like I go away, I eat kind of badly, come back, go I'm looking a bit big, and then for the next three weeks out freaking out trying to cook some healthy stuff, and then the saving happens again.

But no, we're doing better about it now.

Because we've we've just been with I'm kind of we're doing well enough now to have a tour bus. So it means that we because before we were driving in a split of which is like just a little little vand that you just drive from country to country.

Citas to city.

But it means that after each show you're driving x amount, getting a hotel, waking up, and then driving the rest of the journey, so you don't get that much time in the city. But now because we're wait, we're traveling overnight, we wake up, we can be in the city for a bit long as you can go out and get lunch, and it means you just have a bit more time to get your bearings and find somewhere that's you know, worth it.

But in Europe we eat well.

By all accounts, like kind of European promoters and people like that. They're always very kind of attentive and and give you the look.

After yea, yeah, yeah, completely. It is funny because it's still they're sill kind of cutting costs because they're making it themselves. But there's just a lot more care that goes into it, I think. But yeah, when we can eat okay, we do a festival season, we do all right when we're not in the festival site obviously, but yeah, I mean, it's it's just one of those things we we we've got like a tiny little when we got

Things we can cook up.

I was thinking about getting it like a portable like oven gasc look for Glastonbury. But my mom was telling me it's not a good idea, but I think it is. I just word I set fire to the camp fire. Yeah, I don't think so.

So with the program that you're about to run again, with all these kind of young adults making different things for a week, Yeah, what's what's on the menu this time? You mentioned that you've already you've been trying to perfect the Portuguese custard time.

So that's the thing is, I'm trying to figure out the moment.

I've literally only just got back from from from festivals and from touring, so this is my week to figure out. So far, I got the Portuguese natters, which is like the custard tops the mustard chicken, hopefully like another form of because we made homemade past the last time. So I'd love to be able to do that again but better this time. And if there's a guy who I'm a big fan of called Ivan Raman. I have an orkind and we just I was just with my manager.

He was there. He's like a hip, proper hero of mine and he's the first hero of mine I think.

I've ever met. Actually yeah, and I got yeah, honestly, I've got upset in a positive way. But I got quite emotional and chatted to him and gave me his book. And I've been really a NonStop and there's a whole it's the whole book is basically about how to create a rarming and we did it last year, but I think this and now I've got a deeper understanding it might.

Try and do it again. Tried better than last year's one. But it's a long thing. So we'll be in there from like nine o'clock to nine o'clock. If we're going to do it like that, Yeah, but I reckon I can do it.

It sounds good. The product of which, at the end of the week is that you kind of like all cook for your families.

Is that how it yeah, so we did. Actually we're going to do it.

So we're linking up with a with a chicken shop, healthy chicken shop called Chicken Town, which is in Tottenham, and they've got just like a wicked, little, wicked little group of guys. You know, I've got this this chicken shop and it's basically for kids. It was set up for kids after school who were going to buy chicken and chips, but we're buying a horrible, you know, irresponsibly sourced chicken and chips, this deep fried with with no kind of love and care and attention out of the

So yeah, that's that's what we're doing this time. So the kids will be in the kitchen.

They're learning how to be part of that and figuring out how what it's like to work in a professional kitchen by some people who can actually cook, not just me and me and a few friends.

I just brought back memories and the like, what were like school dinners like when you were in school. I mean, I don't know how we're kind of like standing the standard that kind of stuff is now, but like it was certainly not great when I was mud.

Yeah I went.

At first, I told actually, I had a good thing going with one of my one of my dinner ladies because I was I was vegetarian when I was younger, like pescatarian, and so she she used to get me.

So I'd rolling and she was head taped up a sleep for me.

I'd be rolling the que and she see me coming and tap me and be like, yeah, I've got this for you.

So she's the hooking up with little secret bits. So I was actually all right.

At primary school. And then I say, what actually I got was lucky enough. I didn't think I'd be able to afford it, But I got a scholarship to private school in Croydon, which was good. It was a bit weird. Private schools are a bit odd, but it was good. I've got like a good ground in there, like I learned a lot. But the food there was insane because

Whole idea of the school and what we're going to do at the end of the years.

We're looking into what it is like, what foods are, you know, how how what effect they have on kids, especially kids of ADHD, and not so much trying to make food healthy food, because I know it's very easy to go to kids, oh yeah, look, you've got to eat better food. But if it's food they don't want to eat, it's not exciting for them. So it's about trying to get the food that they want to eat, like chicken and chips, and just making it a bit better for them.

So they still want to have the same thing. They can still have the same thing. It's just not as crippling to them mentally physically. You know.

In terms of your style of cooking and what you make in the kitchen, do you collect recipes or are you a bit more off the top of your head style chef?

I used to Yeah, I'm off the top of my head. But but basically I've watched almost every cooking program known.

To Man's my favorite.

Maybe written anything from Rick Stein. Rick a big fan of Rick Stein.

Man. I watched Rick Stein in Iceland recently.

That was good.

He's serving up whale, he was serving They quite a lot of that stuff up there. Apparently it's quite a sort of distinct. Yeah, very super super fa. Yeah.

Yeah, but he's good. Yeah, he's the man. I think. I don't know why. He's got a big love for Australia as well. And I've got a big love for Australia only because I've just been there.

But it was like when I went there, I felt like I was coming home, you know, for the first time.

But that's about sunk about him, man, And I love that he uses so much salt.

That's I think that's my favorite thing about it is that he just doesn't care how much salt he puts into things.

He's got like an old man's tongue, but him for sure.

And yeah, and this and this, this this series called Chef Table because basically the premise of it is every every episode you should really watch every every episode is it's a different chef and they they kind of take you through their world and you know what they're trying to do. And there's some amazing chefs, a guy called Massimo Botoro who's like the first guy as Italian chef who like flipped Italian cooking on its head.

But but they're quite humble. It's not they're not.

It's not the kind of in the most part, it's not the stuff you expect from TV chefs.

You know that it's all about ego and mass producing things.

They all quite quaint, little small restaurants, and I think that is the appeal of it is, you know, it's not something that is multi million making.

It's just to do it for the love of it.

It sounds like this is kind of such a major passion in your life, Like, will this be the second proper time you've run the programm? Yeah, scond, But it sounds like you can imagine yourself developing in it and kind of building it sort of every year at least, if not more regularly. Is that how you see it?

Definitely, man, I mean, it's just it's a time thing, you know, because I'm still working on a lot of music and still playing a lot of shows.

But yeah, it's just nice to have something else to do as well.

I think I'd go mad if I was just always playing shows, always making music.

And it gives me.

It gives me time to I don't know, it gives me when I get a break from making tunes, it makes me want to go back to make them, as it does when I'm making music, makes me want to go back and cook something else.

But yeah, my hope is for it just to continue to go.

I want to get it to the point where we don't have to turn kids away, you know what I mean, Because at the moment, because the timing is so tight, we were only able to do it with the same kids we did it with last year, which is brilliant for them. But I want to be able to open the doors to more kids and get younger kids to the kids that we've been teaching and then starting parting their wisdom down to you know, pass down to another

That's the dream.

Is the added bonus of being able to book shows in places like as far flung even this year is Japan, Australia, Mexico, Like, do you deliberately try and go out and sample the local cuisine when you're there as.

Much as I can much? And I think that's why I'm getting kind of fat, because because that is.

That is genuinely that is generally what I do.

Yeah, we just were in Mexico earlier on this year for something else signed top Secret, and I tried, Yeah, I ate crickets, like cricket tackos and.

Then so the idea of it is basically out there.

Crickets are the only thing that they can responsibly source, so as a source of protein, you know, in a hot country, something that is abundant is crickets, and they are so cheap and easy to breed and then to harvest, and it's not I know. They just see it's a lot more environmentally friendly than you know, breeding loads of cows and killing them all or whatnot.

You know, because these are.

Pests, genuine pests that eat all the crops, and so you grow them up kind of, you harvest them all before they can eat all the crops, and you get more vegetables and more protein.

So we try them.

Is it like an attack?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, banion.

It's like it shouldn't be banning. So we've got a plate of them. It's like a big like it's like a big just a big.

Man of crickets. It sounds so nasty. Got a big man of crickets.

And then next thing it's like guacamole, some some hard cheese like near cheese or something, and then some other source is super hot and you just see you put it together and I was I was loving it until like the last one, and I thought about what I was eating and then I couldn't eat anymore.

At least you got the last one.

What did you enjoy so much about Australia? We did you? Did you try any kangaroo steak there?

And sadly I did man and yeah, that was good, and that was good, It was good. But no, just everyone I've spoken to about it's been furious because and I'm kind of furious about myself. Yeah, just because kangaroos such beautiful animals. But my thing is, if you're gonna eat one animal, you gotta eat all the animals. I mean, you can't pick you can't just you can't pick an animal. This one's kind of ugly, so ione to eat this one. But the ones that are are cute or attractive, I'm not going to eat.

That's been my basis of it.

You're going to be eating baby pandas.

No, no, no, no babies. That's what I do. I don't yet, actually, that's I don't.

I was having had a long conversation with my mom and my brother about it recently, and I was and I've kind of come to inclusion that I don't want to eat young animals.

Like lamb or veal or whatnot, because I just think it's so unnecessary. So I just eat.

I eat animals, the old ones, the old ones, and the ones that have had a good time, the ones that, yeah, the ones that kind of you know, my time's up.

Want to eat me? Yeah? But yeah, Australia out there, my family.

I guess the thing about it is it's like London but hot, and the people are friendly and they have the same kind of humor as us, but it's yeah, people people are just a bit friendlyer, and and where we are was beautiful, and the wildlife is beautiful, and there's a kind of there's a real relaxed approach to

Whatnot and getting looked after.

But even when we had days off and we would just roll around, roll around the city and whatnot, everything just feels so easy and it's the same things.

It's interesting. I was talking to a friend about it because it's kind of the same as how.

I feel about Germany, because I really like Germany, and it seems like all the places that I kind of kind of felt closer to, the places that have quite difficult pasts, I mean, especially kind of potentially racist past, you know, or kind of political pasts that aren't aren't kind of in with my beliefs, but I think that that it forces new like the latest generations to I don't know, they kind of have something, not something to prove, but they have something that they you know, they're trying

Mean on that subject, Like I mean, we're I mean this people might not hear this for a little while yet, but we're recording this, like a few days after the general election, and by all accounts, there was a kind of quite a high turnout from the you know, the bracket the age group of people at eighteen to twenty fours, like higher than previous years. From your point of view,

Vote massively, it's just an It's an exciting thing, man, I mean, just people gain and understanding. I think a lot of people from kind of people who are who music I've listened to for a long time, especially like a lot of guy artists like Jomie, etcetera, who were reaching out, people who had like a youthful influence. We're reaching out and kind of not saying vote for this or believe in this, but just opening the debate and opening the conversation.

I think it's Yeah, it's important, man.

It's nice and my little brother and his friends are talking about politics and not in a way where it's like, you know that political politically like charged arguments and whatnot, but are just interested in making the change in it. And I think that's the thing that's exciting now is that people are realizing that it's not just our conservatives labor that's.

What politics is. Politics is literally just anything you know.

Yeah, it's the whole the whole conversation of you wanting to make an impact positively on other people's lives.

Yes, it's exciting, I mean obviously voted labor.

Reason, I guess yeah, I mean it's it's we're in a moment where we don't necessarily know what the imminent kind of future looks like because you're just throwing everything.

But what is exciting actually for I guess everyone that's kind of as full as to say, you know, just but what is exciting is the idea of as much as you know, who knows what will happen this time and if you know, labor don't get into power, you know, Jermie Corman doesn't get a chance, you know, to make any sort of change this time around. What is is evident is that we're moving in the right direction.

Is that there are more.

People who you know, more people who it will affect the most, are standing up and you know, going to count me. And it's happened for me because I've never really been in that political myself, and it's kind of I'm talking like right now, I sound like I am, but that's just because of how it's been moving the last couple of months. I've always been very disinterested in it,

I wasn't.

It was kind of almost like people were trying to trying to convince me that it was boring or I had nothing to do with it, or it wouldn't affect me. And as soon as you know, you start having conversations where you realize the effect is going to have when you you know, he pushes you further.

Do you think like the actions of people like Jay and me, do you think that there was a positive outcome from like basically people that are perhaps a little bit more relatable, especially the younger generation we're talking about it and therefore just engage people. That was that was a key key thing.

I think, so I hope.

So, I mean, definitely people it's it's nice to see, I know, for my little brother, even people who can't vote. I think that's important is getting the conversation started before you're just slap bag in front of it, in front of a you know, like a little tick box, and you've got to pick someone I think knowing to be to be talking about it when you're sixteen seventeen and understanding what it is. By the time it comes for you to make a decision, you're a bit more clued up.

I'm going to vote for.

I don't know anything about it, but I remember last year when this was happened. I saw a bit and bobs about this.

But I think social media as a whole has a big role to play in it now because.

The people you know, new papers and want that don't have as much controls as what they can give you. Because if you don't get it in the news, just get it on your phone because Twitter. That was interesting. I was listening to something on the radio, went to ike of my mum. Yesterday I had a great time.

Do you like Yeah? I love I.

This is very strange. Literally last night I was I had a conversation with the mate.

Yeah.

And I know two really close friends who absolutely love I care and they'll make it into almost like a day trip. They'll go to the cafe.

They're like twice if you're lucky, one for breakfast, one for lunch.

It depends how long you're staying in there. I took my wife there recently and we had dinner in there, and it was like a Tuesday night, It's like the hottest day of the year. And she was like, you take me to all the nights and you're telling me this food isn't good.

True. I mean you can hang out, go for a drink afterwards.

Sixteen quid.

It's insane.

Yeah, everything literally everything, meatballs, veggie meatballs, salmon, whatever you want. Yeah, it's my favorite place. I don't know what it is about it, man, but to be fairst because I go with my mom. Yeah, I kind of played that man at the house, right, I don't play.

I know.

I'm surprised you went and didn't have like a domestic because that's all all I hear about from friends of mine is you go go with your missus and just put my water all over the floor. Just in case anyone's wondering what that nice one I've got.

For now? I mean, if you if you're cool with being there, fantastic.

But just all that witness all my friends says, they're just like, I've had friends who are broken up at I k at people who broken up okay, just because it just gets too much, because it's just it's a big deal.

I guess you know going there because it's yeah, I don't know.

And I think it's usually as well because people are trying to make contentious decisions about in the house. It's always like a yeah, it's it's a dangerous place.

Then you might realize, you know that you like that Chandela, she doesn't like that. You even meant for each.

Other's funny how quickly get what did you? Did you get anything good.

For my k? Yeah?

I did, I got, I didn't I got such boring stuff I got. I got like a little rug from my bathroom in front of my sink. I've got a wardrobe.

Last time I went, you got a wardrobe, wicked? I got. I got a mattress. I got to tell what I did get is I got.

I got a roll up mattress for my little brother because we're moving a few of the rooms around, and got like a few my my baby cousins coming over from the New Jersey and it's the first time she's coming over on her own. She's like sixteen, she's not so much a baby anymore, but she's she's coming over and there's no room for hers, so building this room

No one's put my bags down. The headed straight back out again, picked.

Up like a double mattress, but it's wicked because they fold them up. Yeah, the mattresses that you roll up and you can carry them home like like a big duffel bag.

Put it on the bed and it just unravels, goes.

And you're like, I was waiting, imagine this is going to be the right pain to get together.

And so yeah, yeah, yeah, Literally you're supposed leave it for seventy two hours before you can sleep on it.

Okay, But the thing that I normally do when I go to Ikia, which I've done at least twice, is by say, for example, a big set of shelves, got it back to the car, and then realized I can't shut the boot.

And then you've got one of those weird guys out of the back, and you know, taxis for me to try you and I don't need that.

It is like I've done that many a time. Man.

It sounds like you can be playing two thousands of people at festival one day and then when you get home it still sounds like home life is still completely the same.

Yeah, literally, man, I was thinking about yesterday while I was in Oka. Yeah, we went to Ika, then we have to go to Costco.

Yeah. Completely.

But I think I to think about it is because I'm not I'm not the boss at home, you know, like when I when I when I roll around, I'm kind of you know, trying to get used to being the boss.

But when I get home, I'm not in charge.

I mean, I'm very much, very much told what to do at all times, which I think it has used to be. All all I have to do is play the mortgage and and Tyler the garden. I don't get so don't get to make any decisions, any executive decisions.

In terms of stuff that you've got kind of plan coming up in and we've already talked about what you're going to do with the cooking school and that sounds really exciting. Later in the year you are going to be playing Bricks and Academy and it's just so it happens to be falling on your birthday. That's going to be a big night.

Yeah, it was actually an accident. No one knew that it was on my birthday, so it came through. The offer came through.

We're looking for available dates and we turned one down just because it was at the wrong time.

We went free for it.

And they were like, what about the sixth Fortober, and everyone booking agent like, yeah, it sounds sick. I had no ideas my birthday, and so we confirmed it and then let everyone know afterwards. Yeah, it's gonna be ridiculous. But I've had a show on my birthday for the last three years, not but not not through choice, just just because that's how the tours are falling.

But this would be the first time I played in London.

I me it's in Brixton and then I spent a lot of my childhood in Brixton, and it's opposite, you know, basic opposite Brixton Brookston Market, which I used to go with my grandma on the Saturday.

So it's kind of like a project rolled into.

Yeah's proper homecoming man, because we never get to play shows in London, in South London, you know, when you play shows in London these days, because all the fancy venues, all the wall the venues that are small enough to fit, you know, the small amount of people who want to come to my shows. But but but but now we're playing on it's like a decent size and it's it's it's like literally slap bang.

It's just crazy.

I just wish my grand and grandad could have been there because they would have gone crazy for it because it's like on their doorstep.

But it's called my loved spirit.

Yeah, absolutely, I mean I presume that night will be a bit like the shows you played at Push in the year. It will feel very kind of homely because friends and family, there no doubt. And what's it like playing a show on your birthday? Then haven't done it three times in a row?

Dangerous?

It is?

It is definitely because it gives you something to do, because I mean, I've never been really one for celebrating my birthday. I don't really throw parties. I like to go out for dinner or something, but I've never been one for throwing parties. And so yeah, it's nice because the kind of the party gets thrown for you. I mean, it's it's nice. It's weird because in my house is I don't know, these days, my family is so small,

I mean, so special.

But we've got to be well behaved because we've got to show the day before and the day after.

So I don't yeah, I know, I know, I know, I know.

That's what I just I kind of just I just bookend it, wait until the very end, and then just treat the last day off all that double birthday.

It'll be a few points of guinness.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, there is. The trouble is that everyone keeps buying me alis a man.

For my birthday at shows and is really sweet and really yeah it's good. So I mean I'll drink it, but yeah, Guinness is Guinness is. If anyone's listening to this and they want to wonder what to buy me for my birthday's kill me a keg of Guiness.

Dad used to work for Guinness. Yeah, I can probably maybe.

You know what I know.

There's a thing about you're not you have to be like twenty five are over to advertise alcohol. I've been told, but you know Guinness, I finished, are listening?

That would be great.

Yeah. Another thing I was going to ask you about was earlier this year six Music and by you want to do radio show?

Yeah, yeah, the.

Spring and I listened and it sounded like a lot of fun. It's something It sounded like you really got into it as well. That's something you'd like to do again.

I would love to, man, I definitely would love Yeah. It's with it a lot.

It's funny because a lot of people used to say but they still said that I look like Craig Charles, or that I'm like a young version of Great Charles, and I don't really used to see it. But he's like the voice of my childhood and I've chatted to him on the occasion, and I would love nothing more than to than to follow the Great Charles's footsteps, because perhaps a young man's game. At some point, I'm gonna have to spend do some stuff.

I can just sit down and I would love to go to it. No, it was a lot of fun. It was nice.

I was kind of worried how people would I don't know really what my taste of music is like, so it was it was refreshing for people to be into it and to lock in. I'm hoping to do another one at some point soon, but if I could get a regular slot, that would be nice.

Six music, yeah, exactly, a Guinness six music that you're listening.

Yeah, yeah, that's all. That's all I really need.

If forget the Guinness in the six music hookup and maybe a wait Chose hook up as well, just you know, just for that day to day stuff. That's kind of that's me golden ingredient. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly easy.

For my mum.

I'm working on the Weight Shows hook up slowly, so I'm cool with you guys. One of the guys using the bread aisle, me and him are quite tight, so I'm going to see what I got him. Think it's for the Hooked two guesses for the for the bricks to show. So I'm hoping that in return, in return gives I can't I can't even hot because I want to getting fired.

But this feels like we've kind of like jumped all over the place of the conversation a bit. But I was just ask you did the you're obviously a massive football fan, the kind of pre match, big hype, brilliant advert that I think it was B team the Champions League final, and you did. You did a real kind of good job with season. But the did you get to go to the game?

No, No, we had a show. We had a show when we were playing at field Day. I watched the end the pub and was the only guy in there in the event to shirt. Actually was really but yeah, that was ridiculous, man. It was a specially when it was a lot of hard work. I usually those things I usually turned down just because I know how difficult they can be in no kind of how many hoops you have to jump through. But for that, it was

It was. It was like I had to do, and I worked so.

When we were away in Australia, we were away for like three weeks and I worked on it every day.

I was going to say, so, I mean, if people haven't seen this basically, and if you're not a football fan, don't watch like football regularly. Champions League finals are fired to be the chriscend of the season, the biggest game of the season, like for like club football, and the pre match kind of hype around it is always kind

Like it's mad?

It's strange they kind of at first left me to my own devices, and then when I gave them what I gave and they were like, I think you've done too much. So basically that I asked for, they were just like we needed to write a store. They gave me that kind of bullet points on all the all the things they wanted me to hit, and then I was like, that's kind of not enough. I need all the highlights. So I had the entire highlights of the entire Champions League and I watched them. I watched them

I know you need to what you need to do now is mastermind. Yes exactly, you can go you could win it or definitely local pub quiz.

Yeah yeah, and just shut it down. But yeah, no, I did, but because it was cool because we.

Were flying so much in Australia is such a big place and the flight to Australia was like a day. So I watched the whole Champions League from the group stages to the final in that day and then just over and over again. Every time I got back to the hotel after show, I was watching it writing a bit, waking up, writing a bit.

Yeah, it was. It was I was living and breathing, which for me, it's like a dream job.

Yeah, although I must have it like this summer is one of those summers that I don't enjoy. Word that there's there's not nothing World Cup, there's no the Euros, the Olympics aren't on.

Nothing, no sport.

England are playing in France today tonight because I suppose I've got football and tonight I was going to play football in Shoreditch but I can't now because England are playing and just continue to get fat.

I guess the.

Final question is about music, which we haven't really talked about, but of course forgot the Yesterday's Gone. The album has gone down really, really well, and I think it feels like the kind of album that people listen to and then pass on to their mate to listen to, which I think is always a good sign. You get a little bit of time in between playing all these shows. You've been playing a lot more for the rest of the year. But when you get home, when you get

Yeah, I do.

I think it's just about finding finding the space for it, because it's still there, still bubbles up. It's just about it's more about giving myself the time to sit down and just jrot it out. But yeah, definitely, I never really started even once we finished album and then it stopped writing, you know, I just kind of would finish that chapter or that book. So that's kind of that's done and that's been put to the side now and we're starting more stuff.

I've been spending a lot of time with Tom Miss recently, which is cool.

So we're still we're still cooking up some stuff and getting back in the studio of Rebel Cliff. He's like my best friend, long time collaborator. Yeah, man, it's it's slow to get back. I'm kind of looking forward to the time when I get a little bit more time off so that I can write again.

But equally, this is this is the time.

I think, this is the time to write when you're busy, When I'm sitting around doing nothing, there's nothing.

To write about right now.

There's so much stuff to write about, and it's just up to me to take five minutes out of my day and just sit down and drop down how I feel and then go back to it and revisit it when I get time.

Midnight Chats is a Loud and Quiet podcast production by Emma Snook Music here to see a gold Panda coach. Midnight Chats on iTunes for more episodes and to subscribe. For more information, visit Loud and Quiet dot com